Zalman Reserator 3 MAX review

In this review we test the Zalman Reserator 3 MAX cooler. Compatible with most Intel and AMD platforms, including Intel Sockets 775, 1150, 1155, 1156, 1366, and 2011; and AMD Sockets AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, FM1, and FM2. The Reserator 3 MAX is an all-in-one Liquid Cooling solution that should be easy to install and use.

But besides that, what's the point to going for liquid cooling when it has a radiator the size of an intel stock heatsink, with a noisy fan to boot?

CronoGraal
Senior Member

Posts: 4157

Posted on: 03/11/2014 09:43 AM
"Nanofluids?" Oh please...

But besides that, what's the point to going for liquid cooling when it has a radiator the size of an intel stock heatsink, with a noisy fan to boot?

Zalman is trying to stay relevant in the market.

TheDeeGee
Senior Member

Posts: 5313

Posted on: 03/11/2014 10:56 AM
If you wanna stay in the market let people decide which fans to use in the first place.

I personally found my home with Noctua for CPU Cooling and Case Fans. And Arctic for my Videocards.

eXXon
Member

Posts: 42

Posted on: 03/11/2014 12:07 PM
Hmmm, Zalman are a little ambitious with their pricing for this cooler.
For that price, you can get an H220 which is expandable and much better at cooling.
Plus, as stated above, why can't the fan be replaced?
But Kudos for the design and using Copper.

Who is the OEM btw ?

kroks
Member

Posts: 50

Posted on: 03/11/2014 03:38 PM
anything above 1000rpm is noisy to me
they should go back to fanless wc...

Fender178
Senior Member

Posts: 3482

Posted on: 03/11/2014 06:11 PM
If you wanna stay in the market let people decide which fans to use in the first place.

I personally found my home with Noctua for CPU Cooling and Case Fans. And Arctic for my Videocards.

Very well said. Even Corsair allows you to put custom fans on their water coolers.

SquirrelBoy
Member

Posts: 36

Posted on: 03/12/2014 05:07 PM
It would have been nice to have the stock cooler in the charts, for comparison. (obviously not in the OC charts, you'd have baked chips for dinner)

sykozis
Member

Posts: 20224

Posted on: 03/12/2014 05:32 PM

Zalman is trying to stay relevant in the market.

If they want to stay relevant, they should start with a design that will actually work.

Sasquatch
Senior Member

Posts: 383

Posted on: 03/13/2014 11:48 PM
I've got one of these coolers, going on about 6months of use now.
While I could have gone with an Hxxi series cooler, I liked the look of this one. I agree with the review, that it's not the best cooler around, but for mid-level overclocks it works fine.
Using Silent mode in the Bios, my FX clocked to just over 4GHz rarely gets above 30C while gaming - usually in the 15-24C range, according to HWiNFO.
I have 2 Cougar Vortex 140's in the front of my case, and a Cougar Vortex 120 in pull behind this cooler, all PWM. The Zalman & the 120 are both using the CPU_fan header, using a PWM splitter cable. Max speed I've seen is around 1600RPM. It's really as quiet as my 140s are, and they're spinning around 800RPM.
But, once this cooler reaches 1800RPM you really start to notice it.
After reading about all the issues surrounding Asetek-based coolers and their legal claims, I have to admire Zalman's forethought to an alternate design.
For a small 120mm design that will fit almost anything, it gets the job done.

Posted on: 03/15/2014 06:07 PMUsing Silent mode in the Bios, my FX clocked to just over 4GHz rarely gets above 30C while gaming - usually in the 15-24C range, according to HWiNFO.

In what room do you game?
Or which readings are you looking at? As those temperatures are anomalously low. They look more like the temperature in your case than CPU temp.
I've never gotten my cpu as cool as or cooler than ambient temperature. Which is usually around 18-20°C in my home, my cpu is 25°C idle, around 50°C when gaming)

Sasquatch
Senior Member

Posts: 383

Posted on: 03/15/2014 08:22 PM
Hope this link works. This is about 20min of playing in BF4. Just got the game installed so still learning it. Normally I'm playing Tomb Raider, Diablo3, World of Tanks & a little Bioshock Infinite, all with High settings or better.
I was wondering about my temps before, so I did some searching. The ITE chip is one of the motherboard controls. Core Temp (not installed currently) always gives me the same readings as the CPU reading.
I custom labeled the fans. Radiator fan is the Zalman 120mm fan & CPU Pump is the pump attached to the Chas_1 fan header on my motherboard.
Chas_2 is one of the two Cougar Vortex 140mm.
Using an industrial food temperature gauge (borrowed from work) my ambient temp is 63F - it won't let me switch to Celsius.
I do know that FX chips give very inaccurate readings when they're at low temps, but I've never seen it above 35C since I've had it. I first had a Hyper 212 Evo on it, and that was only a few degrees higher then this is. (Amazing air cooler, btw.)